China’s Directory of Genetic Resources of Livestock and Poultry received an update recently. Interestingly, dogs are not included on the list of animals that can be bred, raised, traded and transported for commercial purposes.
According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs, “With the progress of the times, people’s civilization ideas and eating habits are constantly changing, and some traditional customs about dogs will also change.”
Another announcement that came from the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs in China seems to indicate that dogs would no longer be classified as livestock.
Reuters reports on an April notice from the ministry: “As far as dogs are concerned, along with the progress of human civilization and the public concern and love for animal protection, dogs have been ‘specialized’ to become companion animals, and internationally are not considered to be livestock, and they will not be regulated as livestock in China.”
Photo: Pixabay
It is estimated by Humane Society International that approximately 4 million cats and 10 million dogs are killed for meat in China every year. Wendy Higgins is a spokesperson for that organization who told The Guardian that this policy is potentially a “game-changer moment for animal welfare in China.”
This update just so happened to take place less than a month prior to the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China.
The festival was originally started in 2010 to help with the dog meat sales in China, which had been reduced significantly. It is a controversial festival both inside and outside of China. It is still going to take place this year, June 21 through June 30.
“In just a few weeks, the dog slaughterhouses of the city of Yulin will be full with terrified dogs awaiting bludgeoning and butchery for its infamous dog meat festival,” Higgins told The Daily Mail. “Experience tells us that many of those dogs will be precisely the beloved companions and helpers and service dogs the national government talked about in its statement as being not for food.”
She continued, “The Yulin festival is a bloody spectacle that does not reflect the mood or eating habits of the Chinese people, and if it is allowed to go ahead, it will appear to be in public defiance of the Ministry of Agriculture’s words.”
Shenzhen and Zhuhai are the first two cities in China to ban the consumption of dog and cat meat.
There has been a nationwide ban on eating certain types of wildlife meat in China recently. According to the New York Times, it is thought that some of the earliest coronavirus infections were found in individuals who had visited a Chinese wildlife market in Wuhan.
from The Animal Rescue Site Blog https://ift.tt/2XL9wLn
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